John Edwards was interviewed by Alex, an iChongqing reporter. He analyzed the current opportunities and prospects of China and the UK (Photo/ Gaowei Zhang)

John Edwards, UK Trade Commissioner for China (HMTC), was exclusively interviewed by iChongqing recently on a business trip to Chongqing. As an official dedicated to trading cooperation, Edwards talked about the current opportunities and prospects of China and the UK.

Edwards has 25 years of experience working for the UK government, with more than half of that time spent in China, including as HM Consul General in Shanghai (2015-19) and Minister Counsellor at the British Embassy (2012- 15). 

Right now, he is in charge of all bilateral trade issues and works related to six posts across China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, Chongqing, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong. 

“I have studied Chinese and been in China for a long time because it’s a complicated, interesting, fascinating, brilliant country complex that I think repays people spending a bit more time here and not just coming in for one job,” said Edwards.

When discussing the epidemic’s influence on trade between the UK and China, Edwards mentioned three major affected fields, including cross-border imports and exports, revenue business of British companies in China, and two-way investment. 

“In fact, China briefly became the UK’s largest import partner in 2020, and we had a two-way trade of over 100 billion last year,” said Edwards. He added that the cross-border export and import held up pretty well. 

Edwards holds a positive attitude towards the business situation for British companies in China with the country’s optimizing COVID-19 control.

 “What I’m seeing British companies now is that they are much more confident about 2023,” said Edwards, “As for the investment between UK and China, the investment has been good in 2020 and 2021, and 2022 saw the single largest UK investment ever into China which is about 8 billion US dollars.”

Edwards thinks that the bilateral trade between China and UK has reached a historical record, and UK’s Brexit encourages exporters a lot. 

Besides, he considered that China stimulated Asia and the Asia Pacific and held the fastest-growing market in the world. He also added that China provided a large amount of medical equipment and sold all sorts of commodities during the pandemic period.

In his previous roles in China, Edwards has led teams across China dealing with science and innovation, energy, climate change, and health policy. Over the last three years, his team has participated in more than 120 events per year, online and offline, and the number of exports they have helped British businesses has reached 2 billion, which is beyond their expectation.

“When it comes to Chongqing, I think we are really excited about Chongqing because there are two things that I think Chongqing is doing relevant to us,” said him. “One is the digitalization of existing industries, which is very important, and the other is the growth of new industries, particularly green ones.” 

Edwards showed an example of a software company AVEVA optimizing the Chongqing brand, Fuling Pickles. The company’s production lines have reduced labor costs by 30 % and physical wastage by 10%. 

“We’re showing massive interest in what they’re doing with digitalization, that is the real savings can be made,” said Edwards. “And then on the new industry side, Chongqing is developing hydrogen production, hydrogen storage, hydrogen utilization, and the UK again is pushing ahead with its own hydrogen clusters.”

“I think there’s a lot that we can do. I hope we can build some pilot, some joint projects together,” said Edwards. “The next step is we want to work with Chongqing on turning that ambition and leadership into clear policies, and consistently applied and open to foreign companies to participate in this really exciting journey.”